


Bang Bang

by rudbeckia



Series: Spookylux Huxloween 2018 [31]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Fire, Ghosts, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-09 16:58:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16453829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudbeckia/pseuds/rudbeckia
Summary: Huxloween day 31: Things that go bump in the nightBen and Hux are spending their first night in their new house: a manor in the Midlands with a historical connection to an attempt to assassinate King James I in 1605.They are not alone.





	Bang Bang

The tarnished brass key turned with a metal-on-metal squeak and the heavy door creaked open at a push. Cold air made breath condense into puffy clouds in front of pale faces. Footsteps approached from the staircase and thudded across the polished parquet floor of the hall. A round, ruddy face grinned up at Hux and Ben.  
“That’s the lot, mister Hux. Everything’s done like you ordered and everything’s where you asked it to be. Want to come round and check before you sign off the job-sheet?”  
“No thanks, Tavson. I’ll call you tomorrow if anything needs moving. Goodnight.”  
Jober Tavson nodded and slipped out the front door. Ben smiled. “He couldn’t wait to get out of here.”  
“I’m not paying overtime,” said Hux with a shrug. “And I want to spend my first evening in our new home with you, not humping furniture around with some sweaty removals guy.”  
Ben grinned and leaned forward. “Humping, you say?”

Ben followed Hux from room to perfect room and smiled as Hux dictated notes to his phone about things he’d have Jober and his crew come and fix in the morning. “They did a real good job,” said Ben once the tour was over. “New floors all laid, new furniture all put in place, and new clothes hanging in the closets. Did they fit the kitchen too?”  
“Yes,” said Hux with a satisfied smile. “All new appliances. Jober texted earlier to say the groceries came and are all put away. I have a very well-trained crew.”  
“Maybe you should pay them a bonus.”  
Hux frowned. “What for? They are doing their jobs. I already pay them for that.”  
“But they are doing their jobs _well,”_ said Ben. “That’s worth something extra.”  
Hux sniffed. “Well then. I will trust your judgment on that and throw a bonfire party for them. Food, drinks and fireworks. I’ll leave right after saying _well done for not sucking at your jobs_.”  
“Bonfire party?” Ben frowned. “Isn’t the season over after tonight?”  
Hux laughed. “I forgot! You don’t have Guy Fawkes night, do you? Tried to blow up the House of Lords. Failed miserably. His effigy has been burned on a bonfire every year since 1605.”  
“Jeez,” said Ben with a shiver. “You Brits really know how to hold a grudge.”

Ben explored the kitchen cabinets and declared that he would make a quick supper. Hux sat at the breakfast bar to watch. Ben rinsed and dried a small frying pan and set it to heat with some butter while he grated parmesan and sharp cheddar into separate bowls and broke three eggs into another bowl. Hux watched Ben’s shoulders move with the delicate, fast swishes of the fork whisking the little bowl of eggs, then seasoning it with parmesan and black pepper. Ben tipped the pan around and around to coat it with the sizzling butter then poured the whisked eggs into the centre. While it cooked, he broke and whisked another three eggs, pausing occasionally to lift the edge of the cooking omelette and let unset egg dribble underneath. When he judged the eggs were done enough, Ben sprinkled grated cheddar on top, folded the omelette over and slid it onto a plate then added more butter to the pan for the second omelette. Soon Ben and Hux sat opposite one another at the breakfast bar with warm, cheesy omelettes and tiger bread from the bakery. Hux forked off the corner of his and held it up for Ben to eat, then Ben fed Hux a little of his, leaning over to kiss a strand of cheese from the corner of Hux’s lips.

“So,” Ben said after swallowing the next morsel offered by Hux, “how did you get this place ready so fast?”  
“I actually bought it a few weeks back. I was waiting for the right moment to ask you to move here with me.” Hux took a piece of bread smeared with melted cheese from Ben’s fingers. He smiled and closed his eyes at the flavour. “I worried you might not want to move out of London.”  
Ben shrugged. “The Midlands seem okay. Could we afford a place like this in London?”  
“Not without arousing suspicion,” said Hux, feeding Ben another piece of omelette and laughing as he dropped some. “You know this place has history? Robert Catesby, the man who cooked up the Gunpowder Plot, died here in 1605. He was shot, which was considerably less nasty than the fate of his co-conspirators. Several of his supporters were seriously injured here when they tried to dry their gunpowder by an open fire.”  
“Wow.” Ben held up more cheesy bread for Hux. Hux sucked melted cheese from Ben’s fingertips. “Did history bump the price up?”  
“No,” Hux said, licking his grease-glossed lips. “It’s grade two listed so there are some annoying planning rules for renovations and suchlike. I think the previous owners were happy that my offer to take it off their hands gave them the freedom to relocate. Hah. I’m sure I would have made a better job of a plot to assassinate the reigning monarch and seize power.”  
“May I remind you,” said Ben quietly, “of why we had to buy all new stuff?”  
“That’s different. Never speak of it again.” Hux glared at Ben and fed the remainder of his omelette to himself.

Supper over, Ben asked Hux if he wanted to watch a film but Hux shook his head, smiled and led Ben upstairs. He paused every few steps to remove an item of clothing either from Ben or from himself, leaving a trail of discarded garments that stopped outside the master bedroom. Hux opened the door and pushed Ben inside. “I am still annoyed by your comment earlier but I will overlook it rather than spoil our first night here.”  
“So you’re putting your grudge on hold?”  
“Something like that,” said Hux. Ben shook his head.  
“No. Absolutely not.”  
Hux frowned. “What do you mean?”  
“I am not going to bed with you unless you admit that you fucked up.”  
“WHAT?” Hux took a step forward into Ben’s space. Ben held his ground.  
“Oh, come on! Hux, just admit that Starkiller got out of your control. Learn from it and move on.”  
Hux scowled at Ben, mouth twisting into a snarl. “Starkiller did EXACTLY what it was supposed to do.”  
“Burn the house down?” Ben scowled right back at Hux. “Put us in danger? Put Millicent in danger?”  
Hux stood silent and still for heartbeat. His teeth clenched and his lips pulled tight. The skin around his eyes wrinkled. He dropped his head into his hands and sucked in a breath that came out as a heaving sob. “I know. I know, Ben! It wasn’t supposed to go that far. Starkiller was supposed to take over our home network for ten seconds but that was long enough for it to take over its own control app and rewrite the code to lock me out. Starkiller got out by digging a fucking tunnel and then blowing it up.”  
Ben wrapped his arms around Hux.  
“Honeybee—“  
“It’s out there doing what it was designed to do. Changing code here and inserting extra subroutines there, and I can’t shut it down. At some point it’s going to execute all the new commands and I have no idea what will happen, Ben, we could be looking at the beginning of the end of the world, so excuse me if I just want to forget about it and fuck my boyfriend in our new house like there’s nothing wrong.”

Ben held Hux and kissed his temple. He waited for Hux’s arms and shoulders to relax then scooped him up and deposited him three steps away on the bed. “Okay,” he said. “You lie there, and let me take your mind off the impending digital apocalypse.”  
Hux sighed. “I don’t know if I can.”  
“That’s okay too, honeybee. You know, it might not be so bad. Rain will still fall. Crops will still grow.” Ben kissed Hux’s neck, making him shiver. “Couples will still fuck.”  
“Planes will fall out of the sky. Hospital machinery will cease to function predictably. Banking software will forget how much money you have. Power stations will shut down. Communications networks will collapse. All your _Flappy Birds_ high scores will be wiped.”  
Ben laughed and kissed a trail down Hux‘s chest, pausing to lick then blow across each nipple and watch it pucker. “You said you don’t know what will happen. Maybe without your command to execute, Starkiller will do nothing. For such a powerful creation, it has done a lot of nothing these past twenty-four hours.”  
“Maybe,” said Hux as Ben’s attention reached his stomach. Hux gazed down to see Ben’s deep brown eyes looking up at him. Ben smiled and shuffled further down the bed then lay his cheek on Hux’s thigh. He teased the underside of Hux’s balls with his fingers. “What’s this I see?” Ben said, watching Hux’s cock fill out. “A glimmer of hope? A spark of recovery?”  
Hux laughed. “Can’t you find anything better to do with that big mouth of yours?”

Ben certainly could. Soon Hux was lying back with his arms out, his eyes half-closed and a smile on his pink face. Ben nestled his head into Hux’s shoulder. “Round two when you’re—”

**BANG**

The lights went out. Ben leapt out of bed and Hux sat up, yelling, “What the fuck was—“

**BANG BANG**

Hux pulled his gown from the closet and wrestled it on. Ben found his new sweatpants and tore them from the plastic wrapper then pulled them on. Hux reached the door first and yanked it open.

**BANG BANG BANG BANG**

They clattered downstairs and into the oldest part of the manor where pale blue light flashed in time with the noise.

**BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG**

With hands over their ears, Ben and Hux stared in disbelief as several grey, insubstantial figures clutched at oozing wounds and fell or staggered backward as explosions spurted fire up from the floor.

**BANG**

Hux felt ice-cold prickle his skin and his vision filled with pale flames that crackled and whooshed in his ears. As soon as the phantom fire flared past him, the lights came back on and colours returned to normal. Hux shivered and slipped his arms around Ben. “I think that explains why the property was suspiciously cheap. I suspected woodworm, damp and subsidence, not—”  
“—a bunch of seventeenth century dimwits trying to dry gunpowder near an open fire. Come back to bed, honeybee.” Ben hoisted Hux up. Hux wrapped his legs around Ben’s waist and hung on. “Let’s show these idiot ghosts that we can bang all night too.”


End file.
